Chiang
Kai-shek: Pro-US Chinese
Nationalist leader who fought against Japanese and communist forces. In 1950,
he escaped Mainland China after a series of communist victories and
established the Republic of China in Formosa (Taiwan). See, Mao
tse-tung.

Cold
War (G 424-25, 429,435, 439, 442, 450-52):
The ideological struggle between the US and its NATOWestern European allies against the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact Eastern European allies lasting from
the late 1940's to the late 1980's. It was characterized by a strain on
international relations with no actual combat directly between the two sides.

Containment
(G429-430): Policy adopted by the US in the late 1940's advocating containing
communism within its existing boundaries.

Contras
(G448): US-backed
guerrillas fighting against the Sandinista (Marxist) government of Nicaragua during the Reagan presidency.

Cuba
(G 448): Country where a communist
revolution led by Fidel Castro overthrew
pro-US dictator Fulgencio Batista during the late
Eisenhower presidency. US cut relations with Cuba, formed an exile army to overthrow Castro (See
also, Bay of pigs), and engaged in the Cuban missile crisis.

Cuban
missile crisis (G 429): A crisis during the Cold War
stemming from a series of events in October 1962. First, the Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, in response to the Bay
of Pigs
invasion. The US saw the Soviet missile sites through spy planes and blockaded the
island. Tensions died down both sides agreed to remove their nuclear weapons
from Cuba and Turkey respectively and the US promised not to invade Cuba.†

Department
of Defense (G 441, 445): The cabinet department responsible
for military policy-making.

Department
of State (G441): The cabinet department responsible for the day-to-day operation
of embassies, the protection of US interests abroad, formal negotiations
between the US and other nations and providing advice and assistance to the
president.

Detente
(G 431, 432): The relaxation of tensions between
nations. It became the name for President Nixon' s
policy of taking a more cooperative approach in dealing with Soviet bloc
nations while enhancing US security arrangements with its allies.

DMZ
/ Demilitarized Zone: Area
12 miles wide along the border between North and South Korea which under international treaties was
supposed to be demilitarized, but never was. The de-militarized zone
roughly follows along the same 38th
parallel that had originally divided Korea
into two countries following the end of World War II in 1945.

Domino
Theory: Recurring Cold War
belief that a communist regime in a region of the world is bound to expand its
ideology to its neighbors.

East
Bloc: The Soviet Union and its eastern European allies.

El
Salvador: The US openly provided military aid to El Salvador in its civil war against left-wing rebels
during the Reagan administration.

Expansionism
(G 427): The pre-World War I American policy that led the US to extend its boundaries to the Pacific
while extending its influence in other areas of the world.

Foreign
aid (G 449): Assistance provided by the US to another country in the form of money,
supplies or low-interest loans.

Glasnost: Soviet policy under Gorbachev which
encouraged public openness and criticism of the government.

Gorbachev,
Mikhail (G 424, 434-36, 451): Soviet leader noted for allowing
public openness and criticism (see also, glasnost),
restructuring the economy (see also, perestroika),
allowing eastern European allies to have more freedom, and entering into missile-reduction
agreements with the US.

Greece/Turkey
(G 428): the US gave $400 million dollars in military aid to
these nations to counter pro-communist insurgencies under the Truman Doctrine.

Grenada: Country where a US intervention to overthrew a newly
established communist government during the Reagan administration.

Guatemala: Country where a CIA-sponsored exile attack
during the Eisenhower presidency overthrew the government of JacoboArbenz Guzman after it
seized American property without compensation and imported soviet weapons.

Gulf
of Tonkin: staged event in which the President Johnson
said a US destroyer received fire from North Vietnamese gunboats which led
Congress to pass the Golf of Tonkin resolution allowing the president to
send American troops to Vietnam.

Haiti (G 444):
Country where the threat of a UN-backed American
intervention, during the Clinton presidency, forced a military regime to return power to a
democratically elected government. American troops were sent to maintain peace.

†

Hiroshima
and Nagasaki (G 456):
Cities that have been the
only sites where atomic weapons have been used in warfare. The US dropped one atomic bomb in each towards the
end of World War II.

Hitler,
Adolf: German Nazi dictator during World War II, who was responsible for the
rise of German power, the outbreak of World War II, Germany's defeat and the holocaust.

Ho
Chi Minh: North Vietnamese communist leader that fought against the US and the South Vietnamese during the Vietnam
War.

Hussein,
Saddam: dictator of Iraq who invaded Kuwait in 1990 after the Cold War was over and was
driven back by US forces shortly afterward.

Internationalism: The belief that the greatest possible
cooperation between nations in trade, culture, education, government, etc. is
the best way to build peace.

Iran-Contra affair: A two pronged
international scandal in which it was discovered that the Reagan administration
had sold US weapons to Iran, which was involved in a bloody war with Iraq, in
exchange for U. S hostages held in Lebanon and using the profits as military
aid the contras in Nicaragua, which Congress had specifically forbidden.

Iran
(G435, 435f): Country where a fundamentalist
revolution and a subsequent hostage taking of US embassy personnel in the
capital of Tehran by followers of the Ayatollah Khomeni
caused a strain in relations with the US.

Iranian hostage crisis:† seeIran

Iraq (G 438, 449, 452): Country that, led by Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait and threatened to move into Saudi Arabia caused a US-led and UN-sponsored air and
land invasion to remove Iraqís forces from Kuwait.

†

Isolationism
(G 426-427, 428): Policy, followed by the US up to
World War I and in between World War I and World War II, of the detaching a
country as much as possible from international affairs.

Israel (G 432, 448): Jewish state created following
the end of World War II in 1945. Resentment among Arab and Muslim countries led
to constant friction between Israel and its neighbors.

Khomeini,
Ayatollah: Iranian
fundamentalist leader who overthrew the Shah and became leader of Iran during the Carter administration.

Korean
War (G 429-30, 451): The first major test to the
containment policy. War broke out between the Soviet-backed North Korea and US-backed South Korea over supremacy of the peninsula causing President
Truman sent US troops to help defend South Korea.

Kosovo
(G 438): Serbian province where a civil war between separatists and
Serbian forces led to NATO interference. Serbia conceded to withdrawing troops after 72 days
of continuous bombing.

League
of Nations (G 428): Multinational
organization created by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I. It had
little credibility, in part because the US never joined, and no enforcement power.

Lebanon: Country where a terrorist attack killed 219 American
servicemen who had been sent there to protect Palestinian forces from an
Israeli campaign and where U.S. people were held hostage during the Iran-Contra affair.

MAD:
see Mutual Assured Destruction

Mao
Tse-tung: Chinese communist leader who fought the Japanese during World War II
and the nationalists, under Chiang
Kai-shek, in a† civil war. He created
the Peopleís Republic of China during the Truman administration, pushing
the nationalists to Formosa (Taiwan).

Marshall
Plan (G 449): Economic aid plan to Western
European nations after World War II to help rebuild infrastructure and contain
communist expansion.

Massive
retaliation (G 456): The military strategy favored by the
US during the 1950ís, which involved warning
the Soviet Union and its allies that any military
confrontation could produce an annihilating nuclear attack.

Mayaguez: American merchant ship taking over by the
newly created communist government of Cambodia. President Ford ordered a rescue mission
that resulted in the heaviest American casualties ever.

Mexico: see North American Free Trade Agreement.

Mussolini,
Benito: Italian fascist
dictator during World War II.

Mutual
Assured Destruction / MAD (G
456): Strategy that evolved in the
1960ís whereby each of the nuclear powers would hold the other in check by
maintaining the ability to annihilate the other in any major nuclear conflict.

NAFTA:
see North American Free Trade Agreement

NATO:
seeNorth Atlantic
Treaty Organization

NSC:
see National Security Council /

National
Security Council / NSC (G
440, 443, 450): A council that
advises the president on foreign policy and coordinates its implementation.

National
security advisor (G 440): The head of the National Security
Council staff, which may sometimes have a strong influence of foreign and
defense policies. (Also spelled national
security adviser

Noriega,
Manuel: Panamanian dictator
charged by the elder Bush administration of aiding drug traffickers. He was
captured in a US intervention and sent to Miami to face charges.

North
American Free Trade Agreement / NAFTA (G 438, 442-443): Economic
free-trade treaty between the US, Mexico and Canada negotiated under the elder Bush and passed by
Congress under Clinton.

North
Atlantic Treaty Organization / NATO (G 430, 431, 435, 450): Cold War military alliance between the US and its allies based on the assumption that
an attack on one is an attack on all.

OPEC:
see Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) (G 426, 432): Organization of
oil producing countries which established an embargo on the US in the early 1970's producing gas prices to
skyrocket and severe gas shortages.

†

PRC:
see People's Republic of China

Palestine(G 439f):
Land where Israel is located.

Panama: US intervention during the first Bush
administration to remove Manuel Noriega from power and bring him to face
justice in the US for drug trafficking.

People's
Republic of China / PRC
(G 431, 440, 448): Communist government created in
Mainland China after the end of the Chinese civil war, shortly after the end of World
War II.

Perestroika:
Soviet economic plan under Mikhail Gorbachev to restructure the
economy, encourage individual enterprises and decentralize the administration
to stimulate the economy.

†

Philippines:US territory until shortly after the end of
World War II. The US maintains high amount of influence by giving large amounts of foreign
aid to the Philippines.

ROC:
see Republic of China

Republic
of China / ROC: Chinese nationalist government established
in Formosa (Taiwan) after the end of the Chinese civil war,
shortly after the end of World War II. The US recognized the ROC as the legitimate
government of China until the Nixon administration.

SALT:
see Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty

SDI:
see Strategic Defense Initiative

START:
see Strategic Arms Reductions Talks

Sandinistas: Nicaraguan Marxist peasant rebels who
overthrew the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in
1979 during the Cold War and set up a communist regime.

Serbia: see Yugoslavia

Somalia
(G 438): Country where a humanitarian effort during the late Bush sr.
presidency and early Clinton presidency to send food supplies to war and drought-stricken
nation resulted in 30 American servicemen dead due to clan violence.

Tiananmen Square (G 435, 449): Major democracy protests in China, in 1989, lead to violent government
crackdown.

Third
World (G 430-431, 442, 449, 452): Term
of the cold war referring to undeveloped countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia not allied to either the US or the Soviet Union.

Truman
Doctrine: US cold war policy
of containing communism by aiding anti-communist governments in Greece and Turkey.

Turkey/Greece
(G 428): the US gave $400 million dollars in military aid to
these nations to counter pro-communist insurgencies under the Truman Doctrine.

USSR: seeUnion
of Soviet Socialist Republics

Unilateralism
(G 427): The Pre-World War I American policy of taking action
independently in foreign affairs, avoiding political or military alliances.

Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSRorSoviet
Union): Communist government set up after the 1917 Russian revolution by the former
Russian Empire.

United
Nations (UN or UNO) (G 427, 455): Global organization set up after World War II to maintain peace
and try to resolve disputes among nations through negotiations rather than war.

United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): aims to promote collaboration among
nations through education, science and culture

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF):
provides aid and development assistance to children and mothers in developing
countries.

Vietnam
War (G 430-31, 444-446,
450-51): Civil war between North Vietnam (pro-communist) and South Vietnam (pro-western) led to US involvement on the
side of the south and eventual defeat.

Warsaw
Pact: Cold War military
alliance led by the Soviet
Union including Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania.

West
Bank: Area formally in the hands of Jordan until Israel occupied after the war of 1967.

Yeltsin,
Boris: In 1990 Boris Yeltsin
became the new Russian President, replacing M. Gorbachev and bringing an end to
Communist rule in the country.

Yugoslavia: Serbians in Yugoslavia fought against Bosnia in the early Clinton administration and ethnic Albanian rebels in
Kosovo in the late Clinton administration. The UN sent peacekeepers to Bosnia and NATO launched US-led air strikes against
Yugoslavia because of the Serbian conflict over Kosovo.